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They survived Halloween wars before.

And now they're back.

Some defending their titles.

Everybody's here. Everybody's a face.

There are no newbies this season. These teams are stacked.

We're coming back as returning champions.

Now I'm scared.

Others out for redemption.

Winning this season, it's going to be the biggest bragging rights ever.

But this season.

is built to test them with all new challenges the first ever halloween wars

carve off and shocking twist you must add motion

to your showpiece judging their showpieces award-winning cake artist

shinman lee it's ooey it's gooey it's chewy boom you nailed it and master of

extreme cake artistry andrew fuller i wish there was a little more contrast

between the color and the shirt and the color of the body

Only one team will prevail.

I am literally working and fighting for my life. Stop talking to me. You better

get ready for it. Why are you questioning me?

It looks like we are doing the same thing. Who will take home the $30,000

and title of Halloween Wars champion?

You broke it?

Yeah. Lesson learned.

Freaking love it.

Welcome to Halloween Wars.

We are poisonous perfection.

Last season, we won. If we win a second time, we would be the best Halloween

Wars team, hands down.

Wow. Halloween Wars, that's the victory I want. That's the title that I'm

looking for.

All these guys are looking and they're like, oh, don't worry about Tater. He's

just a joke. I'm a serious pumpkin cover. And my team is a serious team.

Who invited you, Eva?

We're here to stay to the end and win this thing.

These are my heroes since childhood.

It's such a stacked lineup that I'm competing with.

It's a dream come true.

We are all boss babes from Texas.

Hello, hello.

The bar is set super extra high, and I'm short. I'm 5'3 and a half, so I don't

even know if I'm going to get to that bar.

Ah, there she is.

I actually made it to the finals last season.

Now we're here to win it, and you're not getting rid of me anytime soon.

Oh. Oh, my gosh.

Oh, man.

No.

They're bringing in the heavy hitters. Yeah.

Liz. Liz?

Everyone knows Liz. She's been doing it for so long. Hey, Liz.

Automatically, she's definitely, like, a threat.

Let's go, bro.

Everybody's here, everybody's a face, everybody's won.

Mills, welcome back.

Except for the Boo Crew.

Good to see you all. I know when people say, like, oh, there's so many talented

people here, but no, there really, really is. I'm not just being, like,

polite and British. Like, there is.

You already know what's up.

It's that time, y'all.

Winning this competition this season, it's going to be the biggest bragging

rights ever.

Hi, John and Leah.

Welcome to Halloween Wars.

Or should I say, welcome back.

Yeah. Some of you guys know each other, right?

Yeah. Unfortunately.

Even though you've been here before, I got to warn you.

Uh-oh.

This is a whole new Halloween Wars.

Ooh. In fact, your first challenge isn't a war at all.

It's a duel.

What does that mean?

You will be randomly matched in four separate head-to-head battles.

That's cool.

You and your opponent will each put your own unique spin on the same classic

Halloween monster.

You'll also need to create an ooey, gooey, chewy treat to present to the

judges. Win your duel, and you're safe.

Lose, and things get dangerous.

Oh, jeez.

This is what we're here for, to prove we're champions.

And if you can't adapt, then you shouldn't be here.

The four bottom teams will have to face off in a do or die battle.

And one team will be eliminated.

You're going head to head with a champion. So there is no field. There's

no bottom two.

There's either you win or you have to go on to a next round and prove your

worthiness.

Here are your duel assignments.

There's so much talent in this room. I'm just scared to go against anybody. I

hope I don't go against Liz Merrick or Jamie.

Honoring. are Witches, Poisonous Perfection, and Team Ghoul.

Nice. This is an interesting scenario. Our team, brand new winners from last

season, going up against the winners from season seven.

Making Zombies, Fright Squad, and The Howlers.

Howl! Oh, boy. It's going to be a really long season.

Making Vampires,

are the skeletons and the creepers, making

werewolves bloodsuckers against Boo Crew.

I grew up watching Halloween Wars. I was 11 years old when I first saw David

Smith carve pumpkins. This is very intimidating.

You'll be given one baking assistant and five hours.

Your time starts...

The previous seasons that I've done, there's this level of comfort in like,

okay, just don't be the bottom. Just don't be the bottom, right?

But then when you're put head to head against another team, talk about a whole

extra level of pressure.

All right, so werewolves.

Eating chickens, man. Always eating chickens. What if we twist it? What if

we change it? What about vegetarian?

Vegetarian? I mean, it's almost comical, but werewolves aren't comical. I think

that going more traditional.

is is the right move because it needs to read werewolf and if it's not doing

werewolf things then it sort of can hurt your stories what if we just have him

kind of transforming you know he's breaking to make him like because you

know him breaking out of the skin we're doing the classic monster werewolf

chained up and you know breaking free and transitioning from a human to a

werewolf into his full form now that's cool that's cool What if we don't have

the werewolf howling at the moon?

Because he made it to the moon. He's in the space suit. Okay. Have some ears

sticking out.

We want to think outside the box. So we're doing a piece called Werewolf

Conquers the Moon. We're going to be making a werewolf in an astronaut's suit

standing on the moon holding a flagpole.

I would like to sit pretty during the second round.

Yeah. We got to do something unique. Maybe the witch is casting a spell, but

the spell goes wrong, okay?

And something evil comes out of the book. It'd be awesome if something was,

like, coming out, like, trying to get her. Like a hand?

Oh, okay.

Long fingernails, yeah. You could do that out of pumpkin, you think? Yeah,

oh, yeah.

We are creating a witch casting a spell that goes wrong. And the tasting element

is chocolate bonbons presented as magical rocks.

Did you guys know that this is the only other team that's full team that has won

Halloween Wars besides us? Yeah, they just won the last season. We won 10

years ago.

So you know what? They must be tired.

We wasted for 10 years.

I'm going to start working on the dog. Cool.

Because he doesn't need much support and structure.

So that way, while Rebecca's working on the structure, we can just keep going

with speed and keep making progress.

Cool. Our design is called A Zombie's Best Zombie Friend.

Elizabeth is sculpting the dog and modeling chocolate.

Rebecca is making the zombie body and head from butternut squash.

The tasting element is PB&J brains, peanut butter mousse with raspberry

coulis and a peanut butter crust.

Let's freaking go.

What I'm doing is I'm using the end of my tool to individually put in and

scratch in like every little grain of hair.

I think it'll be more impressive if it's really, really tiny because they're

expecting something that small to be pretty basic.

Dogs have like a natural fur pattern.

And to make it look realistic, you have to follow that. You can't just put

random lines in it because it will just look scruffy and messy.

You want to make sure the fur looks like fur.

That's why you're the best.

I don't know about that.

You're the best. But I try.

All right, Reva, so I have my skull set.

So I've drilled this hole to put him on. So I'm going to have him kind of sculpt

like this.

We're going big with our design and creating a zombie gorilla.

I'm making the head out of modeling chocolate and Tater's making the body

out of butternut squash.

Our strategy in this piece is to make something really big to show everybody

how much we can finish in this time frame.

Hopefully it was a very good decision of ours to do this.

I'm afraid of time, but I'm always afraid of time. I think we can make

this. We can do this. We just got to stay focused, and I just got to cut

faster, you know?

We will manifest.

Today,

we're going up against the Fright Squad.

Those are amazing artists.

They do beautiful work.

The details, unlike the dog, now I got to turn it up a notch.

So the reason why I chose squash on this is to make sure that, like, it looks

like an arm or a thing. So it already has the muscles?

It has the structure and the shape that I want, and it's thick enough on the

inside that when I cut it open and pull the channel, I just put it right back on

there, and then you have a full mass minus the scissor in the middle. That's

brilliant. Yeah, it's pretty cool.

If it was pumpkin, it'd be tough because then you've got to piece it all together

and hope that it's tight enough to go in there, you know? Yep.

Seeing what Fright Squad's got, it's not a lot compared to what we have for our

giant zombie. I want to show the judges and the rest of these competitors that

we're here to win this thing.

There looks good right there.

Something I've learned throughout the years is knife work. We are going to be

making a scene where our vampire was chained in the sun where he burned to a

crisp.

The face is going to be the main pumpkin piece in this design. So it has to be

really good. It has to stand out.

I wouldn't say I'm necessarily concerned about going up against the creepers. I

was a winner on season 13 of Halloween Wars, and I was a finalist on season 14

Halloween Wars All-Stars.

I am a professional pumpkin carver. So I would carve pumpkins with the kids. I

never had any formal training. I never studied sculpting or anything like that.

What really keeps me going is the ability to bring a really fun, unique

type of art to kids.

For my vampire face design, I do want to bring in some quintessential elements.

I'll be doing the widow's peak and the black hair that low-key looks like it's

plastered to his head.

Get in there. Get in them pumpkin boogies.

Perfect.

So you want me to attach some armature wire like this, and that's going to keep

this cake flowing?

We are creating a vampire being lifted by bats.

Tanisha is making the body out of cake and modeling chocolate. I'm making the

bats from butternut squash.

And Mary Ann's tasting element will be a sandwich cookie with espresso and banana

vanilla ganache.

So how many armature wires do you think we'll need? I think we should use four.

I want the two outer parts to be longer. The longer? And the shorter ones.

Absolutely. You got it.

The other team we are up against has been really, really good at sculpting.

So I want to make my cakes have more movement.

So for the cape for the vampire, I'll be using a lot of wire to help make my

fabric look more flowy.

And hopefully the judges will love it.

Armature wire, it's going to allow us to create flow. As if there's wind blowing,

as if there's movement, there's separation in what he's wearing, his

clothes. And I think that in itself is going to push the movement that we need

to kind of sell this piece.

Are you guys good? You guys got a plan?

Yep. Yes.

I have like the entire character, head, body, you know, painting, shading, eyes,

face, everything. This is like, it is a lot.

I'm not saying I can't do it. Thank you for helping us. Oh, absolutely. You

start your pumpkin.

I'm the first one to reach out and help somebody and do more than is actually on

my plate.

That looks great. What else can I do?

You let me know. Of course.

We got this, team.

We do.

I am from this little tiny country in South America, Guyana, but I currently

live in New Jersey, and I am a cake artist.

I would say for four years, I've been really doing, like, hyper-realistic

cakes and sculpting and stuff like that. For me, it's important to win.

Because where I am from, not a lot of people get to have this opportunity.

And it would be really great to just show them, like, anything is possible.

You know, if you really try hard and put your mind to it, you can do anything.

I'm strong. Look at my muscles.

How you doing, Cees?

All right. They got the milk gel going on the stove right now. Amazing, Cesar.

That's what we want to hear, man.

For my tasting element, I'm making the Comet.

It's a pumpkin miso lava core, brown butter mascarpone mousse.

It's going to be covered in Qatafi and dusted with black sesame ash.

Am I scared? No. I'm a true OG.

I was in season eight where I met my wonderful cake artist, Sabrina Harado.

Season 10 and 12 with Anthony Pater. So I know each and every person in this

kitchen. I know their skills.

I know their weaknesses.

I know their strengths.

All right, come on, boil.

Me and this funky induction burner, you know, we're old friends. We hate each

other.

Watch my stuff. I'll be back.

I need one more thing.

I'm working as fast as I can.

You feeling okay right now? Yeah, no, I'm feeling great. I just, I'm just

fumbling because I'm a clumsy person.

Oh, what?

Is there a fire?

Cesar, what's happening?

Cesar! Tinker, turn it off, turn it off!

Turn it off, turn it off.

All of a sudden, I'm like, oh my God, it was the moose.

Uh-oh.

Caesar!

Please tell me it did not burn.

Is it off?

It's off.

Okay. Sabrina, you saved the deer.

I hope so.

Caesar,

that started to boil over. I tried to save it. I hope that's not part of the

tasting element.

It is part of the tasting element.

First time a heart attack.

Thanks, I needed one.

Waste of time means falling behind at the end of the day. If you don't bring

your A-game, you could be going home the first day.

You know, I've been on the show four times.

Am I nervous still? Hell yeah, every day.

But I can't make these kind of mistakes.

This is not what I do.

I'm a professional.

Guys, I'm sorry about that.

All right.

So we are doing the candy apple pie cream puff.

So the main thing with cream puffs is they have a cracking on it, which is a

coating. So we're going to go ahead and get that ready because it's got to get

rolled out and chilled.

Candy apples are a big part of like the beginning of October and the holiday

season. And it's just bringing in that like whole holiday feel. So we're going

to make it delicious and looking real funky. But when they eat it, the eyes

are going to light up and it's going to be off the chain.

So we're going head to head with bloodsuckers, teasers, making something

convoluted. But the reality is, when it comes to food, simple, clean, executed

properly will always win over complicated.

Here we go. Into the oven.

Now, teams, I know you're busy, but you might want to say hello to the people

that are going to be judging you.

Award-winning cake artist, Shin Min Lee.

And our new judge this season, the bold, boundary-pushing master of extreme cake

artistry. No way.

Andrew Fuller.

What are you doing here?

Hello,

fellow cake artists. I am so excited.

I'm so excited. These guys are truly the best cake, sugar, pumpkin artists that

I've ever seen in my entire life. And we're starting things off different this

season with these duels. Yeah. That's intimidating for them. If you're not on

the top, you're on the bottom. Correct.

That's the thing. There's nowhere to hide. You can't be in the back of the

room. I know. Yeah.

Oh, we're thinking alike. Yeah. I love it. It'll change. Don't worry. The team

that they're dueling is right next to them. So they can look over and see how

they're doing, how they're comparing. So this is such a way to get in people's

heads. It's definitely very intimidating.

And nobody wants to go home first.

Trying not to make a giant mess everywhere.

With limited time, I'm going to have to move fast.

Are you happy?

I'm really excited.

We have two teams that are returning champions.

Yep. Poisonous Perfection and Team Gould, and they're going head-to-head in

this duel with witches.

So these two are the most meticulous teams I have seen to date.

Anyone who knows Cake knows Liz Merrick. But then Jamie, she is like the most

adaptable competitor I've ever seen. I'm so glad I'm not going up against them.

Hey, I didn't know you won the last season.

Yeah, I did. You had it all the time, huh?

Now I'm scared.

Not super thrilled to be going head to head with the other full winning team.

And of course, we get placed right next to them.

You know, it's a game of keeping your head down, concentrating on your own

work, and making sure that what you're doing is as best as you can do.

Liz, I've only done a hand one other time.

What? That's not the time to tell me that.

Cake decorating was one of those hobbies that truly became my passion.

I got into cake decorating because I am first and foremost an artist.

I've tried many different types of sculpting and painting.

I came back to Halloween Wars because I really wanted to come back to the place

where it sort of all started for me, but with more skills, more maturity, and my

kids, my boyfriend, my best friends, all of people who've been with me for the

last 10 years since Halloween Wars, I just want them to see how far we've

come. Do you think the scale of this hand could be close to mine? Yeah, I

want it to look really like it's about to grab her in the face. Okay. But don't

curl the fingers too much. My teammates, Kristoff and Mike, are such good

compliments to my personality.

We are very...

passionate. We're super perfectionists.

So I'm going to segment the hand up and make the palm one piece. Plus they let

me be in charge, which I love.

Like this, not like this.

I'm sculpting that hand to be coming out of the book, trying to kind of go after

our witch.

Yeah, that's great.

But hands are one of the hardest things to sculpt. How the fingers work just to

make it look realistic is very tricky.

Hey, you guys, what do you think about maybe using a pumpkin seed for

fingernail? Oh, that's a great idea.

Creepy enough. I love it.

We're very much about detail.

In Season 7, I think that's what allowed us to win the whole competition.

So we're going to push the limits of what we're doing, and we're going to

push it to the very last minute.

You know, I just do sculpting for fun, but I design buildings for a living.

It's all spatial. I kind of sculpt the building, kind of how I sculpt the

pumpkin, too.

But it's all three-dimensional and kind of figuring out spaces and proportions

and everything. So it all relates, and I do it for a living, but I also do it for

a hobby, too.

I think that fingernail is pretty cool, though. Yes.

It looks so realistic.

And once I attach the shoulders, the arms here are going to be able to build

a bit more of the shoulders with modeling chocolate as well.

For this challenge, we're making a creepy, eerie witch that is going to be

reaching her hand over the river Styx and summoning souls out of it for a

spell. I'm making the water. I have my gelatin.

I'm going to be just pouring a thin layer, let it set.

And I want to like pipe some frosting ghosts in there or spirits and then pour

another layer on top of it, right?

Gelatin, it doesn't hold the same level of heat as sugar. This is going to set a

lot faster. It's not going to melt any of our decorations.

It's squishy. It's forgiving.

I love it.

It smells awful.

Going against team gold.

It's all about the detail. It's got a badonkadonk. A what?

A badonkadonk. What is that?

It's a butt.

Oh, okay, yes.

She does.

I'm learning so many new words.

I'm going to start popping missiles.

Let's hope that this looks as cool as I want it to.

We could be the first team to ever get...

Two in a row.

I've been in the finals three times and I won one of them. So I must be doing

something right. We're going to do it in layers because then it'll look like the

souls are in the water. Okay.

Next layer.

They look like they're floating.

Exactly. Yes, they should be floating.

Creepy, creepy, creepy.

That's what we're going for.

So I'm working on this candy apple pie cream puff. All right, guys, first batch

is out the oven. Look at these things.

Oh, man.

Perfectly round.

Nice. You see that with the crackine? That's what that does, is it holds it in

shape. That's right. Gives it a little crunchy. This is hot over here, OK,

guys?

Just let me know when I can taste it. Yeah, it'll be cooling for a minute, all

right? So the Boo Crew and the Bloodsuckers are dueling it out with

werewolves. One of the hardest things to achieve is that realistic fur texture.

And I'm looking for who's going to give us the most movement in that fur and the

texture in it so it's not so static.

I am starting with the werewolf torso.

So he's got to be ripped like nails.

I got to get this thing peeled because paint does not stick to pumpkin rind.

So any details that I would waste my time doing on the skin won't even show

up. Tell me, what are you contributing to this first challenge?

Sarcasm.

I'm contributing the whole torso. I like doing muscle structure, and it's going

to save my teammates, hopefully, time to get all the good details in.

Candy apple pie filling.

Hey, you want nips?

What? Nips.

Does he want nips? Oh, just a little, I think.

Knowing we're going head-to-head with another team is scary enough, but the

Bloodsuckers happen to have one of the best carvers in the country, if not the

world. Anthony Pater is absolutely the next generation of superstar pumpkin

carver. Check this out, guys. Oh, wow, look at those teeth.

Like that snarl? I love it, I love it, I love it. I got a snarling maw. I may be

just a little nervous, but don't tell Anthony that because I don't need it

going to his head. He's still young, he's got to learn the hard way.

Yeah, I mean, he can't be an old scrawny werewolf in an astronaut suit.

Yeah, he's yoked, man. That's good. I think the nipples is a good idea.

You got four hours.

Add this right to the head.

I got to shape it up just a little bit because it's so difficult to piece two

things together and make it look like one piece.

It's so important to me that we continue on this competition because my last

season was supposed to be a redemption and we went home first episode. I would

be so heartbroken if I went home first episode again.

Next step, just for extra security, surreptitiously hide rods.

I started sculpting pumpkins when I was a kid because I grew up watching

Halloween Wars, and I never really stopped doing it. I'm from Tuna,

Pennsylvania, and I work at an art museum.

I went to school to study art and animation.

I learned about composition, anatomy, and color, and creating characters.

People may not take me seriously because I'm...

quite a bit younger than everyone else but i want to be seen as the carver to

fear this is something i kind of only have a one shot at do what you got to do

i will work around you there we go yeah i feel pretty good oh should i add a

little more white to the front before i i build the next guy in front of it yeah

because i don't wanna

do you want me to go in there with some black or do you want me to whatever you

want to do it has to be done before i put the next armature on yeah what do

you need lily Lily is making the tombstone that will be behind our

vampire, showing that he is in the graveyard.

Okay, do we have black over here? Over there. We want the tombstone to look

realistic. We want it to have texture.

We want it to look like it's been around for centuries.

And the paint job needs to be immaculate.

Do you have to add more white before you add the black?

Well, yes.

Do you want some Everclear or something?

Um, no.

I need to highlight your letters so they pop more. Yes, that's the thing that I

need, yes.

To be here, it feels like I have done something right because this is all pros

here. I'm self-taught, so I didn't get to go to school.

It started in my kitchen as a hobby, baking cakes for my kids, and it grew

into a business. This happened 15 years ago. And now I own Lily's Cakes, I own

La Rio Mansion wedding venue, I coordinate and plan weddings.

Doing what I do, people are trusting me with their special day.

It's the world for me.

Oh, careful, I'm painting on this side there. Sorry, that'll waste. I'll wait.

I'll hold it that way. No, no, no. Finish, and then I'll go back.

No, no, we got to keep working.

We have to keep moving.

Yes. There is a lot of details that I don't know if the time is going to be

enough. Really a big factor in how nervous I'm feeling today.

Maybe jump back into making the chains out of pumpkin. I have to finish the

head. And you have to finish the head, yeah. He has a base, so he's not going

to wobble. I would work on him there. I've worked with Lily. She doesn't have

the confidence.

for a competition at this level. And if you need to drag the... Don't worry

about it. If you need to drag it down to make it look like... I will.

Now, Andrew, you've been in their shoes. You've competed. You've won.

What do you think's going through their head right now? These are such talented

people, and they're here to prove themselves. And I know, as a person

who's been on the losing side of things and on the winning side of things, that

nobody wants to go home first.

I don't know how we're going to do this, because I want every single person here

to go home the winner. Yeah. So it's going to be really tough, because I know

what they're capable of.

I'm gonna make the chains.

Eyes. Eyes.

Eyes are coming right now. Okay.

Got an eye mold. I'm gonna color the eyes onto the icing sheet. We'll cut it

out. And then basically we'll do the hot sugar into the shape we need. Put it on

it. Torch it so it looks good.

So it's got that yellowy like he's looking at you.

Back home. Me and my wife own a full service dessert company.

We do everything from wedding cakes, regular desserts, you name it, we do it.

I feel like we're good.

Yeah, man, we're good.

His mouth looks freaking unreal.

Look at the tongue.

Look at the tongue.

It's got taste buds.

You know what it tastes?

Victory.

Keep it going, baby. Keep it going.

Where do you want these eyes? You want them right here? Yeah, that's good.

Thank you.

David and Mark are the perfect team. I think a lot of people would look at that

and be like, ah, nobody's won, but I really want to do my best so that they

can succeed and we can all win together. I think it would really be something

special. Like it.

It's unreal.

The creepers and the skeletons, they're battling it out with my favorite,

vampires.

Vampires are like beautiful and regal and kind of Victorian looking. I'm

wondering like which direction they're going to take that.

I really want the darkness to come through. Like, I want them to pull me

in, but also scare me off. So I have a little bit of warm water here.

Yeah. I have rice paper. That makes them, like, bloom better, right? Yes.

Can I have a little bit of your hamaita or hibiscus or whatever they call it?

Grab like that.

Yeah, is that okay? Yeah, of course. The story is that this vampire was being

burned. Alive. So I'm using the juice from the blackberry and hibiscus.

Perfect. And I'm going to use that to add the color of the under skin, you

know? I'm using rice paper to give it that burnt skin texture.

And this just looks like flesh, doesn't it? It kind of really does. Ew. Like, in

a gross way. You want to eat it? No.

Why? It's yummy.

It's ooey gooey.

Susana, you want to try?

Yeah, no.

I'm going to try it.

Oh, no!

That's rice paper.

So this is the caramel.

I'm putting some heavy whipping cream into the sugar. I have to raise it until

the temperature that it's going to be chewy, which is very important for this

element. Our tasting element, it has to be chewy, gooey, and ooey. We want it to

be very, very gross, so handmade chocolate filled with chewy caramel and

then gooey praline.

and then hibiscus, blackberry, compote, all combined in the shape of a kidney.

I'm going to close it and press it as if I was making an empanada.

I studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.

I have a shop in San Antonio along with my husband.

I always knew that I wanted to do cakes, sugar, chocolates, and make people

happy.

So I'll just let them cool. Now I hope the judges liked it. Three hours left.

I think what I'm going to do is I'm going to work on the bats.

So you know how our theme is more motion? I want to set the wing in this.

This will be the back of it. So we can scoop out. So now it's got flax in it.

Sounds perfect.

My name is William Wilson. I'm from a small town called Cincinnati, Ohio.

I have been carving for the past 12 years. I am a general contractor, and my

wife and I owned a restoration company.

But getting to carve pumpkins, that four months out of the year that I get to do

that, I put everything else to the side and I focus.

I'm a little worried I'm behind because, you know, I didn't get right to my

element. Kind of helped with the armature.

But, you know, I'm just going to try to get this done as soon as I can so that I

can make sure that my elements are ready and prepared when they need to go on the

platter.

My wing, I really want to thin it out and add some texture to it. We're

creeping into first place.

No worry about nothing.

Between us, we don't have as much experience as any of the other teams,

but I believe that we're as talented as any team that's here.

Anytime you get a bat that's that cute, I mean, I don't know how this is not

going to be the whole star of the show. I'm going to create one more bat body,

and then I've got to do the high-heeled shoe.

I've got to paint these, too.

So we've got to attach...

the pumpkin pieces because our zombie still needs its leg that he's holding.

I'm a little freaked out about time. I'm not going to lie.

But, you know, I think that if we just keep focused, I think we'll be fine. I

think we'll be able to get it done.

This is such a risk.

I know. It's a gamble. Yeah, don't mind. I'm just hanging a dog from a pumpkin

leg the size of a pencil.

No big deal. So I have my hand ready to go.

I'm going to glue it into this end, though. And then I'm going to paint it.

Sounds good.

We're going up against the howlers.

And then I will come in and I'll put my hand on top.

Yes. And then we'll have just the fingers wrapping around a little bit.

Okay. I think our team is knocking out a really cool piece, but...

The howlers are making this massive gorilla.

It's terrifying, but it's huge.

I'm working on a very small-scale zombie leg, and looking at mine compared to our

competitors over here, there's a very clear difference in scale. And I think

what we wanted to do was not focus so much on making it as big as possible,

but add as much fine detail as humanly possible.

With as much detail that we have in the piece, I really hope that we can come

out on top.

have i told you how awesome you are recently because not recently okay

you're awesome thank you so are you thank you

i haven't even looked at what the other team's stuff looks like because i can't

i need to focus on what we're doing yeah it's hard to see what they're doing

because it's so tiny which is probably i mean it's completely opposite of what

we're doing there's a lot that we're doing right now to get done. But it's

not coming together as fast as I thought it would. The fur, you want black?

It needs to match the head.

So yeah.

Okay.

I mean, I would even put, you could even make, put blue or some, yeah.

Because it doesn't blend in together right now.

There's still a lot of work to do. Tater still has to add hair and a bunch of

texture on there, and right now I'm just like, okay, this is going to be a

gorilla. I know it will be a gorilla, but it's a little sketchy right now. I

like the way that head looks. It's looking good.

How much time we got?

The answer is not enough.

Yeah. You got two hours.

Ew. Some of these displays are coming together, some not so much.

The two vampires are really behind.

I'm definitely feeling the pressure for these two.

Yeah, I thrive on chaos, and so sometimes things come together at the

last minute for me, but also they might not.

So I'm curious as to how that goes for these guys.

How are you on time, Tanisha? I don't know, no idea.

Okay, I'm trying to do this fast real quick.

One thing that Tanisha struggles with is time.

She is a slow worker because she's so meticulous. But because of that, the

finishes don't quite get finished.

I don't want to see that again this time.

I've already hard on myself for every single thing and very critical of

myself. So, like, I know I tend to focus a lot on detail until it's perfect.

Uh, William?

Yes, ma'am?

Can you do the head? Yeah. Wow.

Hey, we need to do a head. We need to do a head. Yes. I'm a little backed up with

my stuff, but I'll tell you what, if it's for the team, it's for the team.

Thank you. Yep. You know, Tanisha is extremely talented, but I feel like she

looks at us more as her helpers than she does our teammates.

You guys rock.

She wants to do her own thing.

I'm stacking these Rice Krispie treats together, and it's going to give us the

foundation for the face so that we can use some soft modeling chocolate to...

Create his features.

Collar is popping.

But we're all working towards a common goal, so I'm just trying to be sure that

I'm helping my teammates.

Tanisha, you are free to do your magic. With William, like, he really wants to

help everyone out. He's, like, he wants to be the best teammate.

In the next, like, 20 minutes, I'm going to need you to set me up with some

paint. I'm going to do the shoe.

Oh, you're going to airbrush the... Yeah.

I'm going to do the other back, and then I want to just start to paint, you know?

I'm happy that I already have the tasting element, but I'm very worried

because I have all the sugar work to make. Like, I need to still make the

hand, the moon, which are, like, key elements for the piece. So, yeah, I'm

worried.

So I'm going to make the hand. I'm going to mix, no, a little bit of translucent

and a little bit of red so it will look like blood.

So I was on Halloween Wars Season 12, and we won.

Sugar is really nice. Like, you can heat it up, cool it down, heat it up. When I

was growing up and learning all these things, I didn't have so many molds, so

I'm used to hand-make all my things. If you find the right temperatures for

sugar, you can work with it really, really nice.

I hold it, and then you secure it, okay? Okay, yes.

Don't press it too much. It can break.

I'm not very happy with the size.

The hand looks a little longer than I would want it to be.

This is not working.

We're going to redo it? Yes, yes. It's too big.

It's so important that my sugar pieces fit together to the final piece.

So if it doesn't fit into the vampire, that is going to be a problem.

I'm going

to

do bonded crackle on the book.

So it looks like old leather.

Liz is well known in the industry to be one of the best, if it's not the best.

At the end of the day, she's taking the lead.

I want to make sure that we're really impressing the judges with a bunch of

techniques. This is a crackle technique where you just roll out the fondant with

a little bit of torched food coloring on top.

It makes it look like leather. All right, so now I'm putting it on the

book.

It's hard to put it on upside down. I'll put the cake on.

It's no secret that I like to compete and I like to win. I'm definitely used

to being pushed.

I'm going at max speed.

I'm in my happy place.

Incredibly stressed.

I would be lying if I didn't admit that I'm not used to being pushed quite so

hard. I usually don't play games that I don't feel like I can win.

One hour to go. I'm going to need every last second of that time for sure.

Are you getting ready to start close?

Yeah, I don't know if we're going to have time to do much detailing as I put

wrinkles onto her face.

It's fast.

It's going so fast.

Our goal here is to just not have to do the second challenge.

Are you okay? I am not okay.

Not okay?

I'm not okay.

The problem is, is I could always do more.

I know, but don't be a psycho.

Don't be a psycho? Is that what you said?

Yeah, and just stop yourself when it's time to stop yourself and move on to the

next thing. I don't think I know how to do that.

I actually took burlap and put it through the machine with fondant, and it

makes this really cool fabric texture. And you know, fabric's really hard to

do. One of the funnest things about doing it in competition is being forced

to come up with techniques that you would never really have to do. And I

feel a lot of pressure to come up with something new and exciting, so I have to

bring everything I've got.

It's a really fast way to make a really realistic texture.

You like it? Yeah, it's amazing. Great.

All right.

So the mochi is what gives it the chew for that chewy that we're going for. My

tasting element is going to be cattails in our piece in the river. They're going

to be a fried mochi donut with a whiskey chocolate fudge and a gooey

whiskey marshmallow.

And there's going to be some crunchy graham hazelnut bits on the outside.

Going up against the only other team that is a full team of winners.

I've got to keep it out of my head. If it gets into my head, it's going to mess

with me too much. And I've got too much to think about to be distracted by

something like that.

Oh, my God.

The dough didn't work out.

When you make a mochi donut, you have to mix your ingredients together in a very

specific order, and then you have to actually cook those ingredients before

adding your egg.

There is something weird.

Okay, so ladies, I am a little bit behind on donut action. The first batch

definitely didn't work.

So we're doing it again. It's throwing me behind a little bit. You guys are

doing great.

I just don't know how much I'm going to be able to jump in to help decorate for

a while.

Okay. My donuts, I have to redo them to try and bring it back to the texture

that I know that I should be looking for. So I'm losing time. And every

single second counts.

Wow.

That's how a winner works, huh?

I don't know. You tell me.

You tell me. It's completely impossible to not look at what's happening around

you, to not compare yourself.

things to go wrong and to end up going home at the beginning.

So what is it? Is a witch on a boat or something?

I think it's a witch who's going to eat a donut.

Yeah, it looks like she's in a boat or on a lake. I think maybe she's in

Hawaii.

Is she surfing?

All right, here we go. I'm going to do a few of the hand chains.

All right.

Oh, God, they look janky.

Working on chains, and I really want to get that link shape. I don't have to be

perfect, but I'm trying to do them by hand.

Hey, you guys think this looks good for chains?

Not really.

No? I think that's a no.

This is not what we want.

This is a detail competition, and this is not a good detail.

Yeah, let me try again. Hold on.

I got an idea.

The chain of sugar that Mills was working on, he just did not like the

first set that he created.

All right, let's see if this works a little better.

So I drilled some holes in here with these little half dowels, which move

out. So I'll be able to link them together so it looks a little bit more

realistic. If there's one thing that I adore in a person, it's when they're

doing a timed competition and still are like, this isn't good enough. I'm going

to start over, and I'm going to find a way to redo it. What do you think about

this chain?

There you go. Better? OK,

dude, what does your hair look like?

You got 30 minutes, teams.

Actually, fine details can handle that afterwards.

So I'll just have a space like that and... All I know is we need to be

airbrushing here. Yeah. So you think we'll be there? Can anyone help me do

the other side of the cave? Like, I'm over here. We just need hands.

Okay. I got you.

I neglected some of my personal duties to kind of help her with hers. And now I

need Tanisha to realize that I need a helping hand getting these squash items

painted so that they match her color palette.

I need to paint my shoes and stuff. Oh, yeah. Well, then go ahead and do that.

Where's the paint? We can paint the shoe. I can help her over here. You said

you was going to help paint.

Me? She did.

Where's the blade? I can help paint. No, you're just going to show me how to

paint. I'm looking for my blade, looking for my blade, looking for my blade. I've

got it.

You are a mess, Tanisha.

Oh, thank you very much.

I'm hoping for some assistance with that, but if we can't... The airbrush?

Just give me the paint and I'll paint my bats. How do you normally... I paint it

with a brush. Okay, then paint it. I've never airbrushed. Do you want yellow or

what kind of color?

Black. I feel like I'm really, like, stuck in the middle.

I'm not here for the drama. I just want to compete. I want to win.

You sure you don't want to put it on a palette? You tell me how you want me to

do it, and I'll do it.

I assure you. My head is here and there, and I'm just trying to do as much

finishing touches as possible. So I need to paint this, too, and... What's that?

Just something I'll do, something you promised me you'd help me with, but...

Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing? I'm too busy, so it's okay. I'll do it

myself.

What are you doing, William?

I thought it just, you know...

Tell him the colors to mix and, you know, go ahead with the brush. I didn't

know he needed me to, like, come over and paint, too. Have I stopped moving

since I came out here?

Tanisha, me too.

Exactly. Me too.

Oh, Lord. Are we bickering now?

Yeah, okay.

I'm not at that point with you, Tanisha.

No, you got to dial it down because I don't like that at all.

I thought I helped you out a lot this round.

I didn't say you didn't.

You're the one who's saying I didn't help you.

You didn't? Yeah, but... You abso-freaking-lutely didn't.

William doesn't use, like, airbrush or food coloring for his pumpkin, so he

wanted me to help him.

And I was just, you know, in my zone, just trying to finish as much as I can

on the main character.

I'm just kind of at my wits.

So, it is what it is.

Okay, we need to move. Okay, let's go, let's go, let's go. Okay, let's do, turn

it this way so we can stick it.

Okay, here.

The team does seem to be falling a little bit behind.

What do you want on the bottom? We need to shred this side. Shred this side

while I make a cave.

Okay. Okay. I can jump in with support no matter what it is. You know, I do

know a little bit of cake work. How do you want this shredded? You do it.

Whatever. You do it. I am panicking because I still want to put a cape on

him. This.

What? I'm going to put him on. Hold on.

Well, it's cool on the pumpkin. Okay.

Go quick.

Go quick.

Teams, you have 15 minutes.

Right now, we're all three trying to work on this same piece. Tough when

you're working with such a tight quarters versus having separate pieces

that you can put together. It's like chaos.

Do you like green or no?

Yep, I like the green. It looks gross.

Gross is good.

Sorry, I'm missing something. What am I missing?

Ribs. The tasting element is going inside the rib cage.

There's one rib.

So these are the three specific ones that go inside the cavity.

Okay. If I come in here.

Ooh, that looks good right there. Okay. The judges are going to have to reach

into the rib cage to get the tasting element.

Those are the ones that I want for the judges specifically because those are

the prettiest.

Brain. I'll go with the dog. I got it. Brain, brain, brain, brain.

Jonathan,

that looks so good.

Theirs is more finished right now, but I think overall ours is going to be the

better piece. I just think it has more detail, and we have multiple characters,

and the level of detail on these are insane.

They have size.

I just don't think they have the detail.

Team Gould is doing something really interesting.

They're putting lettuce on their display.

Are you making lunch?

Oh, yeah, salad.

It looks so cool.

Liz, who's working on the witch, she understands that lettuce has these

natural, like, scallopy effect at the edges, and it just gives her this really

full collar without her spending all that time shaping it out of fondant or

chocolate. Two minutes! Two minutes!

Yes, two minutes. Come on, bring it on, bring it on.

Do you think I can put this on him, a cape?

Yep, do it, do it, do it.

Two minutes, Christophe.

Well, Liz, I'm doing my very best. Okay, okay, I'm not mad, not mad. I just

wanted to know about how much time, because I trust you, and I would never

tell you how to put something on a cape. We need to just start adding color,

texture.

We're not going to be able to add the details that we were hoping to add to

add all the depth into her clothing.

There's just not enough time.

Did we get vodka?

Yeah, we got vodka. I'm going to take a shot because I'm stressed out.

One minute. Krista, necklace.

Oh my goodness.

What else? Bones, bones. Hurry, hurry, hurry. Got them in the house.

We can stop painting it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We gotta do this. What do you need me to do?

We're asking you to help with the sculpting. Ten.

Nine. Red for color, red for color.

Seven. Let's taste it, guys. Six.

Five. Make sure it is good. Four. Two things. Here. Three.

Two.

One.

Time's up.

That's it. That's it. Oh, my God.

Good job, man.

Thank you.

Oh, my God. Tanisha, I'm aggravated with you because I stopped doing what I did

to help you. No, no, no, no, no, no. Let me speak, please. I felt a little like

Marianne and I were carrying Tanisha, but when I needed you, you're this. This

is you.

Huh?

It's like I can't even talk to you. She looks at us more as her helpers than she

does our teammates.

She wants to do her own thing. I don't mind helping you, but the whole time I

was still working on the cake.

But I helped you. He helped you.

But I didn't say, no, I'm not going to help you.

When were you going to help me?

Now? Even when I try,

you're like, yeah, we're good.

No, no, I wasn't.

It's got to work both ways. You're not giving me anything.

You're not letting me speak, bro.

What did I say? Relax. You're not even letting me speak. I started talking.

Yeah, yeah.

I don't know if we did enough, but we'll see how the chips fall.

Teams, the time has come to face our judges.

Win your duel and you're safe.

Lose and you'll have to fight for your life.

Our first duel of the day.

It's Bloodsuckers against Boo Crew.

Werewolf versus werewolf.

We're going to see who's the leader of the pack.

Bloodsuckers.

We made the werewolf conquering the moon.

I'm obsessed with this. You said the pumpkin.

Nothing calls a werewolf more than the moon, right? I get it. I love the tale.

Why don't you tell us what you made for your ooey gooey chewy tasting element?

A pumpkin miso core surrounded by a brown butter mascarpone marshmallow

coated with dark chocolate and then rolled in katafi.

Her space dust, black sesame ash.

You definitely nailed it with the ooey and the gooey. I wanted a little more

chewy. I'm not really getting much of the miso.

Or the pumpkin. I got the pumpkin, but I ate a lot more pumpkin than you because

I'm Halloween 365.

Some of us are authentic.

Boo crew.

We're doing the werewolf.

Transitioning to his full form.

They're so different.

This one's like we put a man on the moon. This one's like I ripped a man in

half. These chains are out of this world.

These chains are incredible.

Is it pumpkin?

This rock? Tell us about your tasting element.

So we kicked off with a Halloween favorite. So it's a candy apple pie

cream puff.

I don't know why I'm buying it.

It's gooey. It's good.

I'm going to gain so much weight this season, and I'm fine with that.

Nils, you are so good with classic flavors.

And the apple comes through so beautifully.

Well done.

Judges, what do we think?

We have, like, cute versus scary. Right, yeah. The movement on Bo Crew's werewolf

was so much more believable.

But then you bring in the tasting element.

Yeah. You know.

the werewolf head that i sculpted it's going to be compared to mark's head that

he did and he did a phenomenal head so i'm feeling anxious all right

this was a very close call

boo

crew you guys came in on top the movement in your piece and your tasting

element gave you the edge We won. We are 1-0, and I mean, honestly, I feel great

because head-to-head, I beat one of the best in the country, if not the world,

Anthony Pater.

That gives me and my team a leg up. We get to move on to the next round, and

we're that much closer to the grand prize.

Our next duel is vampires. That means it's the skeletons versus the creepers.

I am not feeling 100% about the work we've done. We just had a disagreement,

and... This is very frustrating and overwhelming.

We made the vampire scene.

He's going off into the great beyond.

I love this jacket. I love that it's really thin so that there's a lot of

movement. Looks like it's being lifted off the body. And the paint job, it's

like a watercolor painting.

And I think it's like we just ran out of time with the painting here, but not

there. Tell us what you made for your ooey gooey chewy treat.

So what we made is an espresso brownie cookie with a dark chocolate ganache and

a banana caramel.

Wow.

Oh, we're going chewy. The texture's there.

This has got all three, baby.

Yeah. Wow.

Wow. The judges were pretty wowed with my tasting element. Really helped out,

especially after, like, a high emotional ending to our competition.

The skeletons, you're up.

Our vampire was lured into a graveyard and chained in the sun where he burned

to a crisp because that's what happens to vampires. We're in the sun. Everybody

knows that.

Wow. Look at this. The proportions are off.

I'm really obsessed with all of the visceral, disgusting elements of it. I

mean, believe it or not, I'm really a fan of that. And you did that with

hibiscus, right?

Yes, it's a hibiscus. Did you just make that up? Oh, it's so good.

And it's so red. It's the color of blood.

Very smart.

And the tasting element are the bones or the kidneys?

The kidneys.

No, it's not the kidneys.

Oh, man.

That's what I was hoping for. Oh, gosh.

Oh, that is gross.

This is so disgusting.

So it's a chewy caramel, and then it has a praline pecan with chipotle, and then

it has a raspberry hibiscus compote. That tartness, that brightness of the

blackberry? The blackberry and hibiscus. It's really good. I like it. The caramel

part is super stretchy. It is so weird to eat an organ that's not an organ.

I don't know what I just ate.

Like, that is insane. Yeah. Visually, this is one of the grossest things I've

ever eaten. I mean, that's what I'm here for.

And from that, like, sweet little lady there? Oh, my gosh.

I love the movement on this one. I love the body. I love the clothes. I love the

fashion. Obviously, there were some time issues. They both struggled with time.

Yeah. I am very nervous. My hands are freezing cold. Just my gut feelings are

telling me that, girl, you're not in a good place.

Both of you did such a great job. And Susanna, we're so impressed with the

risks that you took. I don't think any of us are going to forget the tasting

element on this one.

But we felt your vampire was just a bit static.

This one's going to the creepers.

Good job, you guys.

Hug it out.

We got it.

I think maybe I pushed a little too hard, but all is good because we took

away a win.

We're good. We're good.

The Howlers and the Fright Squad with your zombies.

Our zombie gorilla has such a dominating, dynamic pose.

It looks like one flowing piece.

The fur is everything. This is next level. I feel terrified that he's

literally going to leap off of the board at me and infect me with whatever's

going on here.

I wouldn't stand that close. He might get you. Yeah, I believe you. So the

tasting element you're going to get from the rib cage over here.

What? Do I have to reach in for the cage feeder? Right over here on this side.

Oh, my God.

So we have a chewy chocolate cookie with a Bananas Foster caramel on the inside

topped with the Bananas Foster caramel corn on top. And then you'll see the

little brain. It also has the caramel inside. Because you can't have a zombie

without brains.

I love it. There's definitely gooey. It's ooey, it's gooey, it's chewy. Boom,

you nailed it.

Fright Squad zombie.

Our piece depicts a zombie on a picnic with his best friend.

Look at this dog.

By comparison, because we're looking at both zombies, this is definitely much

smaller in scale.

And when it's that small, you really need details.

It's so delicate.

This is like a comic book strip here.

The dog bit his leg. The dog's clearly been infected by his owner's poor choice

in dog toys.

Elizabeth, I know you're so good with faces. Did you work on this face?

No, the face is pumpkin.

This is pumpkin.

So is the legs, both the legs as well.

Oh, my gosh. Wow.

Okay.

Tell us what you made for our tasting element.

So I did a take of a peanut butter and jelly brain.

It's a gooey peanut butter mousse. Then it has a raspberry coulis center, so

it's oozing in the center. And it's a chewy salted peanut fuitin crust.

It's like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with the crust cut off, but

really expensive.

These are both really impressive pieces. I think that the tasting element for

Fried Spot was just a notch up.

is kind of perfect.

We cannot lose today, but our pieces are so different. I don't know how the

judges are going to judge this one.

Howlers, your tasting element was really good and inventive and exciting.

Fright Squad edged you out just a little bit on your flavor element there.

They're both so impressive, but I think in the end, the Howlers are the winners.

Constantly, every five lemon minutes.

My armpits are super sweaty.

It's all about the witches. Team Gould and poisonous perfection.

It was very difficult, but we came together, so fingers crossed.

Which witch should we do first?

Team Gould, let's go. Let's do it.

Our witch's spell went wrong, and she called a demon.

That airbrushing in his hand. I can't believe it. That's pumpkin.

Whatever.

As it sits here longer, that lettuce is getting grosser and more disgusting, but

it works. Look at the texture of this gown. The folds, the burlap texture. The

fact that it looks like it stank.

In the best way, you know.

This is so successful.

What'd you make for us?

So for the testing element, we have a magic spinning rock.

And it is composed of 72% dark chocolate ganache. We have a salted caramel and a

marshmallow for the gooey.

I wouldn't say the marshmallow is ooey or gooey. It's bouncy.

It's a different texture.

I don't mind that.

Thank you.

Poisonous perfection.

You're up.

We've made a creepy, eerie witch that is reaching her hand over the river Styx

and summoning souls out of it for a spell.

This is such a full scene.

They're like spirits in the water.

Corrine, the sculpt job of this witch is so beautiful.

If we had time to shade this, she would be unstoppable.

What's the tasting element?

My tasting element?

is a mochi donut cattail filled with whiskey fudge, a whiskey marshmallow

toasted, surrounded with graham and hazelnuts. I eat mochi donuts every day.

But this is amazing. I like this better than what I get. Thank you.

I chose it specifically for the chewy factor. And I can't eat the stick.

I'm sorry.

Okay. What do we think?

This is insane. This is impossible.

It's insane.

Jean Gould's shading.

Yes. And wardrobe and texture.

That is so bold. They know what they're doing. And poisonous perfection. That

composition is so beautiful.

I think this is going to be our toughest choice for the night.

They're both unbelievably beautiful.

I think it comes down to the details and... Oh, no.

We're going to give the win to Team Gould.

This duel has really taken my team out of our flow. We mesh so well as

a team.

And this has... Maybe it's gotten into all of our heads. I don't know. Good

job, guys.

The top four teams can rest their bones and watch the action from the winner's

gallery. You're safe for now. Thank you.

Losing teams, you're now in a do or die battle.

I am a very competitive person. This sure as all heck is not going to be the

time that I go home first.

I know you're scared.

You should be.

But use that impending sense of doom as inspiration.

Your challenge, create the exact moment of death for a character of your

choosing. Your two hours start now. Let's go.

In a normal day where it's not dual, we would not be here.

We would not, no. But now we need to move on. We need to do something

awesome, something that keeps us alive by killing something.

You know the fastest I've ever skinned an Atlantic giant pumpkin? Be careful,

be careful.

32 seconds.

Oh, gosh.

Our concept for this is a hot wings champion tries the spiciest ghost pepper

wings. And unfortunately, they were to die for.

Susanna's going to be making a hot sauce bottle out of sugar, as well as some

vegetables. Lily's going to be making the body, and I'll be doing the head.

And our goal for this is to make it look like his body is just melting.

Mark, do this like you're holding a chicken wing.

Thanks.

I'm trying to spend as much time as possible making the hand because we got

judged on the scale of our previous piece.

So I want to make sure that this time it is up to size and it's doing what it's

supposed to do. This time is going to make sense. Our piece is literally

melting. His whole body is turning into liquid hot sauce lava.

Lava. So don't come at us.

In a competition where everybody is so good, one little tiny mistake could make

you a weak link.

Okay, Christina.

Yes, ma'am. What do you think?

Uh, sure. I don't know.

You're the cake maker. Like, I should be able to be getting my work done because

you should be able to handle your work. Okay.

What's wrong?

Nothing. I'm just...

The way I handle these competitions is I get really nervous.

But that pushes me to just put in all that I know and the best I can.

We have to impress the judges with two hours.

Two hours. I know, it's not a lot, is it? It's a lot of smart choices.

I know.

In our piece, a particle ounce balloon act backfires.

when he tries sword swallowing with his balloon sword.

I'm sculpting the head in cake and modeling chocolate.

Rebecca is carving dramatic ruffles and a hand from pumpkin and squash.

And Jonathan is pulling sugar for the balloon sword.

Keep that momentum going. I'm trying.

So to make sure that we don't go tiny again, we decided to do just a bust.

We're going to focus on just the top half of a clown and the hand, because

that's the only bit we really need to tell the story.

I don't want to go home yet.

She's not ready.

I'm not ready to go.

I've also got to show emotion and distress, because, I mean, this clown is

literally, like, choking.

So two hours is not a lot of time. Be honest with me. Do you get Botox?

No. OK, look at me.

Raise your eyebrows.

Surprise! OK.

Perfect.

Thank you. I've been accused of that multiple times.

he needs to look surprised i have a method where i put plastic wrap over the

face so that way when i'm indenting the wrinkles it stops the creases from being

so sharp and fake looking just kind of rounds them out nicely gives them a

little buffer i bet this would feel quite nice if i was this clown head a

little massage do you have a girlfriend yeah this is the front face

okay this woman's gonna be a little bit thicker because honestly i can't make

the leg without it being like having some shape to it in our showpiece a

grieving mourner meets her raker when she steps on a rake sabrina is sculpting

the face and legs and modeling chocolate i'm carving the dress and arms from

pumpkin and caesar is crafting the rake and delicate sugar pulled flowers in

order to survive we need to be bloody we need to be gross and we need to be vile

that's what's going to keep us alive She's stepping on the rake, and that

thing is just coming up and smacking her in the face, unfortunately.

There is not one team that ever wants to be the first team to go home.

It's just so sad, feeling like, oh, we might go home today.

Like, it's not a good feeling.

This woman hasn't skipped one leg day in her life.

Okay, that works.

Fantastic. All right.

Come on. This is the fastest I've ever carved in my life.

It's difficult to carve a hand as is, let alone hands that are literally the

size of my thumb notch.

I'm going to attach the thumb in later, because the thumb is a protruding

element. So hopefully the judges will recognize the technique. We're going to

blow everyone away.

That's it.

You go. I am carving a foot.

Cooking sugar in a two-hour window and then needing to pull it and all of those

things.

It's a lot, but it's absolutely doable.

This toad got into a bottle of cola and some breath mints. What happened?

Going into round two, we definitely want to focus on the details because we've

seen the level of details that can be pulled off by the other teams.

There's a lot of pressure in general.

How's it going, Paulina? Hauling butt? Yeah, I just have to finish the tongue

and the feet and a little bit of texture.

I'm in paint.

We got to figure out how this competition is working because it is

very different than past seasons. Me and my team, we're going to retrain our

brains. We're going to take a new view on things. We are going to detail them.

The basic shaping is like...

Judges, at the end of this do or die battle, one of these teams is going to

get scent packing.

So the assignment was capturing the moment of death in a creature. So

there's not a lot of time.

Don't give me an entire backdrop.

Just focus on that one character at the moment of death. Laser focused.

Time management. I hope they make smart choices.

Don't we all?

Do you have some, like, texture to make the wings? Yes, yes, yes.

So I'm supposed to make the chicken wings made out of modeling chocolate.

This one, I'm using this little mat, so it gives it some texture, and when we

put the glaze on it, it's going to look really nice.

Okay, so...

Paint the wings and give it a little bit of texture and color. I'm going to put a

little bit of red, a little bit of orange, and then just a small amount of

brown so they will look like they came out of the fried ones.

I'm worried about time.

Being worried about time and making sure we're on time are two different things.

I love you, Cristina, but yes, I am worried about time. I'm not worried. I'm

aware. Okay.

Jeez, girl.

Don't listen to her.

I'm going to build half of his body to look like his rib cage is showing

because he's burned. He's melting from the inside out.

I am using wafer paper. I'm going to try to use wafer paper to do the ribs.

So I'm trying.

If it doesn't, I'll go back to fondant. I don't feel like there's anything wrong

with seeing if you can do things better, faster.

I mean... How about two punches in the face?

So the thing is, with wafer paper, even though you can mold it when you heat it

with steam, it dries fast.

On top of being in a competition and moving fast, I'm moving extra fast with

this. I don't know if the time is going to be enough to really achieve what

we're trying to put out there.

These are not doing how I want them to do. This is not working how I want it.

You don't have time to waste.

Oh, girl.

Okay, so the wafer paper, I thought it would be lighter to use to make the

ribs, but it didn't look right.

And for this, we have to be more than perfect. Here we are now in the bottom

four and going against another three super talented teams.

Okay, I'm going to just make the ribs out of fondant, okay, and stick them

with wire. Yep. I think that will make it easier.

My goal is to finish in time. You only have two hours. A strong competitor

knows when to pivot. What she said.

So hopefully this is it.

Let me do something.

Finish the face, Christina.

No, I can't. I cannot.

Finish the face. Don't worry.

Okay. Having strong-minded woman and...

Boss ladies working together, it can go very, very well or it can go really,

really bad because we're just used to giving out orders and expecting things

to be done perfectly.

Okay, it's working.

We got ribs.

Ooh, baby. And we don't mean barbecue.

Nope. We mean ribs.

We're loving the idea that we came up with, which makes it fun and exciting.

And my team, we work the best.

Under intense pressure. I'm worried it's a little alligator.

Yeah. And we just go like, just like warty, like right.

Like maybe take off your gloves. So it's like smoother lumps.

Ooh, this is my favorite.

I'm a big fan of just like, Oh yes. Yeah. Go, go, go.

I am the only triple threat on Halloween wars.

I've been a cake artist twice. This is my second time being a sugar artist and

I'm actually a pumpkin artist too.

I don't know if my fellow competitors really understand how many skills I'm

bringing with me. Oh, bottle.

Oh, my God, that looks so good.

Everybody be careful with the bottle. If you break the bottle, I will break you.

Judges, there's a lot at stake and a lot that can happen. We have four bottom

teams right now fighting to stay.

this is like the olympics of halloween wars you can make something incredible

and still lose fright squad's doing this clown situation so why this is risky um

because it's not easy to do but i know the jerseys want technicality and the

only way you can get technicality is by taking chances right so we're gonna take

chances I was thinking about doing it out of fondant or gum paste, but the

thing is, I think the judges would appreciate if I did it out of sugar over

fondant or gum paste.

And then you have a folded balloon, one section. Awesome. There's the easy way,

but that doesn't really show much skill, does it? Exactly. So I can do this out

of something else if I wanted, but would it look as cool?

I'm making a balloon sword for our clown. This sugar is so fragile, and if

it breaks, there's no going back.

Okay, and then you just round the edges off, and then I have...

One section of my balloons.

This is all hand-blown sugar, and it's like a balloon. If it pops, you know,

your dreams are shattered with it. All right, the top of the balloon.

Oh, my god. That's amazing.

Oh, I love it. The Halloween war claims its first victim in one hour.

Right now, I'm just making the facial structure.

I'm going to add some eyes.

Her eyeball is going to be coming out of her eye. That's how heavy the impact

was. And her face is just going to be so smashed in.

I really love the cartoony look just because, like, I love cute.

That's my favorite. That's my favorite word.

But this is Halloween Wars, and cute doesn't fit in here.

I'm going to make the eye that's popping out now.

Oh, I'm just going to make a little curl.

Add some red because an eyeball comes out with some stuff, I'm assuming. Not

that I've ever seen one.

Okay, here we go.

Guys. We got an eye popping out. I love it. I love it. Oh, my God. You love it?

Okay. I'm going to keep going. Keep going. Don't stop. Keep it up, Sabrina.

You are doing amazing.

Thank you. So are you.

You're going to have to put gel. I would gel. I want it to be like goo coming out

of it. I want it to be oozy, chonky goo. Like even if you wanted to take some red

fondant and just with the piping gel and just stick it in there.

The skeletons, I don't know what's going on there yet. I'm telling you, it's

going to look good, okay? I haven't seen it really come together. I'm just seeing

kind of a body on a display.

Yeah. Are you having this? Can you put painting some of that right here on his

mouth? Christina wants the scene to look like hot sauce oohing out of his body.

Just get... We need a lot more oozing, though. Can I have the stuff?

I need to help you guys do things. Okay, do things.

Here. What do you want? Do whatever you want to do. Okay. My mom always told me

growing up that I had the patience of a saint, and I think that really helps in

competitions like this.

Being able to be patient when things get hard.

This.

Does the pumpkin, does pumpkin burn at all? We want this to look like rounded.

These edges need to be round because that's how things flow. Does that make

sense? Yes, yes. Do what you need to do. So they had originally smeared it. But

if you think about something flowing, it's not smeared. It's kind of like

pooling. I think that's enough now. We don't have any on the other side.

She doesn't listen.

Who doesn't listen?

Christina. Here, I'll take over. You can do something else.

Oh, is this what you're doing? Yeah.

No, you've got things to place, don't you? Yeah, well, I'm just... No, no, I'm

trying to help. I'm helping.

Yeah, me too.

He needs to be burned in the back so it's cohesive. We made a lot of small

details that are telling the story, like the wings, but they are swimming in the

hot sauce now.

Sorry. No, no, no.

She's difficult to work with.

She doesn't listen.

And it goes, she thinks that she knows it all.

I'm worried about poisonous perfection.

I never thought that I'd be saying about this team. So I'm nervous.

Your final judgment is at hand in 10 minutes.

You want me to put the tongue on first?

Yeah, tongue on first.

What do you think about Poisonous Perfection's overall design with the

frog eating the mint candy and then it foams and they die?

You know, they're going for size. It's definitely the largest that we have out

here right now. What I would love to see is like the frog's body actually about

to pop. Yeah, yeah. And I'm not seeing that right now. If they created like the

throat getting so stretched out that it's...

out of sugar, then we would believe it's going to burst. Yes. Yeah.

I think size might do the math. That makes me nervous for that. And I can't

believe it. I mean, this is poisonous perfection.

I know.

Five minutes left. You have five minutes.

Five minutes.

And then we'll do the bottle.

And then we'll do the mints. And then we will... We need the guts in the mouth.

Yeah. Crank it up.

Those look great. Be done with them. Stick it in. Should I do a side profile?

Yeah, that's right.

Okay, I have to really be careful because this is a one-shot deal, and

we're done.

There is a lot of hot sauce on our board.

Let's hope the judges are not going to be too critical about it.

It's really cute. I love him. I love him so much. Here we go.

Oh, my God. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four,

three, two, one.

Time's up!

Yeah!

We're finished.

That's my baby.

Our piece is twice as big as the next biggest piece. Like, we went a little

overboard. You know, it's just a bit unfinished.

Oh, my God.

How horrible would it be if Poisonous Perfection went home on the first

episode?

Teams, this do or die battle, was all about capturing a character in their

final moments on this earth.

Bloodsuckers, you're up first.

Tell us about your showpiece.

On her way to visit her late relatives, our poor Isabella has met her raker.

Oh, puns are my favorite.

I really love the impact of the rake in the face and how much splatter is

happening here. The blood shooting out from the back of the head is very

exciting to me. The tiny little eyeball, the details that you put in the face are

so much fun.

These hands, they're actually quite large, but I mean, you've carved those

out of pumpkin. These legs are so beautiful. So great job on that.

I really want to see the side of you come out more and more because, Sabrina,

you tend to sculpt very cute and bubbly, and I really want to see this because I

can tell you have it in you.

Thank you, Bloodsuckers. Thank you. The Skeletons, tell us about your moment of

demise.

Well, the Hot Wings champion was invited to try the new Deathly Ghost Pepper

wings, and unfortunately, they were to die for. But even in death, he wanted to

defend his title. He's not a quitter.

I love spicy food, so if there's a way that I want to go, this is me.

There are worse ways to go. This is my vision board right here.

I mean, the chicken wings look real. Yeah. As much as I love a bloody mess, I

think that the bloodiness is a little messy.

The board itself is just a little crowded.

It's red on red on red. There's a lot of the same color, so you lose some of

those amazing details that you guys put in there because when you get up close,

you can see them.

It was too much red.

I was telling them, like, it's going to look messy.

But I'm like, we need to bring other colors because this is going to look

like red on red on red. And what did they say? They said it looks like red on

red on red.

Christina put all the sauce and made it look messy.

We need a lot more oozing, though. Can I have the stuff?

I need to help you guys do things. Okay, do things. Here.

I really wish I would have said something a little sooner because right

now it's too late.

Thank you, Skeletons. Thank you.

Hello, Fright Squad.

I think the judges will be so happy. It turned out amazing. We get to show off

another skill set.

And we made an awesome piece. Our clown is part of the circus, and upon watching

the sword swallower, he thought he would include it into his act, but it didn't

quite go to plan, and he met his unfortunate demise.

What I really love is this expression on the face.

He looks like he's suffering, but he also knows he did this to himself.

I think it was a smart move to do your balloons on the board using sugar. You

highlighted your sugar work really well.

Thank you, Fright Squad.

Poisonous perfection.

Well, toads will eat just about anything.

Our toad today made the explosive mistake of washing down his breath mints

with a cola.

Happens to the best of us. It really does.

There are a few things about this explosion that work and then a few that

don't. Down below where all this action is happening, there's a lot of tone on

tone. And I want to see a lot more clearly what exactly is happening.

The blood coming out of the nostrils, that's dark.

It was a rough demise for this guy. Being able to see the wire where the

mints are exploding out of the mouth is maybe not the best way to approach that.

There's a lot of hits and there's a lot of misses.

Thank you, Poisonous Perfection.

You four teams were in a fight for your lives in this do-or-die battle.

Three teams did earn the right to move on, but one team, unfortunately...

will be eliminated tonight.

The team going home today is... Personally, this was a redemption round,

and I'm proud of the work that my teammates did. I feel optimistic, but I

also know that everyone else's work is phenomenal.

The skeletons.

I'm sorry, but you're going home.

Thank you.

I guess that spice definitely bit us.

on the end bye I feel like if we had done what I had recommended I wouldn't

be going home first but you can't we're all grown adults you can't tell people

what to do you can't micromanage people at the end of the day their decisions

are their decisions bye this is an experience that I will never forget my

family is proud the rest of you live to

fright another day.

We'll see you in the next battle.

Hey, hey, hey, hey.

Man, this was the hardest start to any season I've ever had.

It's a rough start.

Nobody likes to let people down.

I know my team. I know my girls and I know how talented we are. It can only

get better from here.

Good job, guys.

Yes.

Coming up.

Changing things up on Halloween Wars. I don't like surprises.

Our all-star lineup of sugar, pumpkin, and cake artists battle it out and face

double challenges.

Every challenge gets crazier and crazier. Mid-round twist.

Why? Why, Jonathan?

Bigger payouts that push them to terrifying limits.

Are you okay? Yes, this is too much. It's too much. Tanisha's not here.

Tanisha has taken off and she is nowhere to be found.

I've never seen anyone do this on Halloween. Wow. I've never seen anyone

do this, period.

I'm not going out like this. I'm a fighter. For the ultimate title and a

trophy every monster wants to claim. If we don't come hard, I mean, what's the

point of being here?

We are here to win this thing.